Question Time: An Author's Life

A weekly(ish) feature for paid subscribers

Jackson Houser asks: Ah, the life of a successful writer! So glamorous, if you overlook the plodding research, the enervating search for the way to clearly explain something complex, and having to deal with dull people, who think you mean nearly the opposite of what you wrote, among other things. So you have an agent, who can help in dealings with publishers, I suppose. But what else do agents do? How does a writer wind up with an agent anyway? We have seen portrayals of theatrical agents, who are shown as ranging from abrasive wheeler-dealers all the way over to superficial wheeler-dealers; but I assume and hope that literary agents are not like that--are they?

In a comment on my post about silk, he also asked for elaboration on what I called “with the significant media advantages that come from first publishing in the UK.” These two questions allow to discuss aspects of what it’s like to be a non-celebrity nonfiction author.